Darren Barker “I’m Back”

[El Raincoat]

Darren Barker “I’m Back”

It hasn’t been the 2010 that British Middleweight Darren Barker was hoping for. While he’s maintained his undefeated record, he’s been bogged down with a persistent hip injury that has seen him fight just once this year back in April.


That win saw him pick up the Vacant European title against teak tough Frenchman Affif Belghechem, who he bested over twelve rounds. The longstanding hip injury however wasn’t getting any better and Team Barker decided that they could no longer continue to fight anything less than 100%.

So Barker underwent surgery, over the course of the summer it was announced that Barker would defend against British rival Matthew Macklin in one of the most anticipated domestic showdowns of recent years. The fight was scheduled to appear on the “Magnificent Seven” show in Birmingham on 18 September.

It seemed too good to be true, and sadly that proved true when less than a week from fight night Barker was forced to pull out. The hip injury hadn’t healed; he was still in pain when he made the heart wrenching decision to pull out of a fight he also couldn’t wait to fight in.

His trainer Tony Sims said of the injury “Every time he ran it was hurting him, it got to the point where he couldn’t walk properly, that’s why it was necessary to have the operation”

“We went to Tenerife to train and he did one run there and he was in agony, we were out there for 2 weeks in a place where you do road work, we’d flown all that way and he couldn’t run up the mountain. That was the whole reason we were there. We knew when we came back there was no way we could fight (The Macklin fight)”

As the old saying goes the show must go on, the honourable Barker relinquished his treasured European title that Macklin dually picked up on the aforementioned “Magnificent Seven” card. The proviso being that Barker would have a direct shot at the European title when he returned from injury. “When he tried to come back for the Macklin fight, he never gave it long enough”

Adding “He did the hip 2 year previous, in reality I wish he had got it done then. The runs were becoming smaller and smaller because of the pain, in the end he couldn’t even walk”

When asked about Barker wanting to fight Macklin, Sims offers this about his charge “For two years we were chasing Macklin. Barker should of fought Elcock when Elcock was (British) Champion but Hennessy didn’t want them to fight but then the board took it to purse bids Barker, Elcock, Macklin & McDermott and they made a strange decision to make Darren fight McDermott in a final eliminator and Macklin straight in with Elcock”

“We won the final eliminator, Macklin won, good luck to him but I think Darren would of done the same thing to Elcock anyway. We wanted him then, he was the one avoiding us at that time. The Amin Asikainen fight he won, but you have to remember Asikainen was 33 and had been knocked out twice before he fought Macklin”

Though remaining respectful of Macklin’s ability Sims says “I think the two best names he beat were over the hill and knocked out before, they weren’t undefeated”

While believing that the British showdown will happen eventually after both guys were forced to pull out of scheduled fights with each other through an assortment of injuries he hopes it’s for a world title when they can maximise one of the most interesting domestic fights possible at the moment.

Though he doesn’t think that they needed Macklin as much he he needs them “We sold 4,000 tickets for Darren’s European title fight while they can barely do 1,500, he needs us more than we need him”

It was just a waiting game and Barker along with his team including Sims had to sit tight and hope that given the time that the hip would get better and respond to physio and get back to normal. Like many things there is no exact science to it, it’s simply waiting. The doctor told them “With an ordinary person they’d be a 100% but with an athlete you never know”

There was a time when Barker and everyone around him thought he may have to hang the gloves up and retire from the sport he loves so dearly.

Last week Barker went back to the gym and after rigorous work outs seems to be getting back to where he wants to be. Thankfully the pain that existed for several months seems to of subsided allowing him to move freely. “The progress is good, he’s not in pain and that’s the main thing, we’ll just keep seeing how he goes” However he reasons “All the sparring aint going to be the same as an actual fight”

When asked how long it maybe until Barker can get back into the squared ring Sims offers “Where hoping for February, that will be 10 months then since he’s fought. It’ll be a ten rounder, until he fight’s his mind isn’t going to be 100% right. After that fight where we can shake of the rust we’re right back into things and ready for anyone”

Anson Wainwright
15 rounds .com

[15829]

cant wait for barker to be back out one of my fav domestic fighters,hopefully he can get a voluntry defebce off sylvestor or sturm they'd be tough fights but definatly winnable

[bigh]

he will defo win a world title only a matter of time!!!

[brian13]

he will defo win a world title only a matter of time!!!

Barker is European level but definitely not World level. Macklin is world level.

[always first]

he will defo win a world title only a matter of time!!!

Barker is European level but definitely not World level. Macklin is world level.

Depends what you consider to be world class. if we're talking Sylvester, then the'll both have a chance of being world class. If we're talking beating Williams or Martinez, then i think neither would be considered world class.

[simonsays]

Good fighter it will be interesting to see how far he can go. I think barker is someone who can drop or rise his game depending on the opponent. But only time will tell.

[IRLangmaid25]

I am looking forward to seeing him back in the ring as I have always enjoyed watching him fight he is a good boxer puncher who puts his punches together well and is a very good finisher when the chance presents itself.

[ourkid1984]

I think Barker is better than Macklin, he has better range of skills.

It's hard to determine what is 'world class' with so many world title's and also I think that American based boxers get labbelled world class well before European and especially British fighters. It's just a case of being a name seems to be enough to be classed 'world class'.

It really annoys me that if either Barker or Mackin were to become genuine world champions they would still not be considered world class. Of course they are if they area genuine world champion and just because they might not be able to beat the very best at their weight level it doesn't mean to say that they're not world class.

There's been so many great fighters that couldn't beat the absoloute best but were still world class.

Good luck to Barker on his recovery and we can still hope for a fantastic all British clash.

[Baboon]

Darren Barker “I’m Back”

While he’s maintained his undefeated record, he’s been bogged down with a persistent hip injury that has seen him fight just once this year back in April.

Fought once this year.......He's sure found a cunning way to 'maintain that unbeaten record'

Debates around 'level' mean little - it'll all become apparent when he gets the big fights. Let's hope he stays injury free and gets some good fights. Still not convinced he's got the dig to keep off the very best but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

[Bomber 1]

He'll struggle under hennesy I feel. I rate barker but just wanna see him fight Macklin.. The fight intrigues everyone....

[leforge]

He'll struggle under hennesy I feel. I rate barker but just wanna see him fight Macklin.. The fight intrigues everyone....

Macklin will surely go onto fight for world title if he wins next fight!

[El Raincoat]

I think Barker is better than Macklin, he has better range of skills.

It's hard to determine what is 'world class' with so many world title's and also I think that American based boxers get labbelled world class well before European and especially British fighters. It's just a case of being a name seems to be enough to be classed 'world class'.

It really annoys me that if either Barker or Mackin were to become genuine world champions they would still not be considered world class. Of course they are if they area genuine world champion and just because they might not be able to beat the very best at their weight level it doesn't mean to say that they're not world class.

There's been so many great fighters that couldn't beat the absoloute best but were still world class.

Good luck to Barker on his recovery and we can still hope for a fantastic all British clash.

Excellent post, well said. Lots of great points.

[scrap iron]

Really hope Barker is back soon, I had no idea how serious the hip injury was. Great boxer.

[misticmonk]

Good luck to him on his recovery. Barker is a very tasty boxer but as was said before I'm not convinced that he is a big enough puncher to take on the top boys.

[matko]

I know everyone thinks highly of Macklin and me included and Barker but 1 forgotten man who I still feel has not shown his full potential thats why he sometimes goes under the radar is Martin Murray who on the night can be a handful for most people including world champs trust me he is phenomenal!!

[El Raincoat]

He's getting there, but he's still away back. A couple more fights and he could make this a triple threat.

[McCannW14]

he will defo win a world title only a matter of time!!!

Which of the current title holders do you see him beating?

[15829]

sturm and sylvestor arent world beaters

[McCannW14]

sturm and sylvestor arent world beaters

I think Sturm is quite a bit better than Barker. Sylvetor, Barker has a chance but i wouldnt make him the favourite